The Wall Street Journalreported that the new feature may be planned for as early as this fall, with it costing anywhere from $12 to $14 per month. The move comes as Hulu is attempting to become more competitive with Netflix, which currently enjoys the lion’s share of the television streaming market.

The option apparently has a codename of its own, “NOAH,” which stands for “No Ads Hulu, according to the publication, citing people familiar with the matter.

The number of Hulu subscribers pales in comparison to Netflix. The service, which is owned in part by Disney, 21st Century Fox, and Comcast, said it has about 9 million subscribers to Netflix’s 65 million. Meanwhile, Hulu may generate anywhere from $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion in revenue in 2015. Last year, Netflix garnered $5.5 billion, according to the newspaper.

Hulu did, however, make waves earlier this year when it announced it would start streaming all Seinfeld episodes.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/07/17/hulu-ad-free-option/feed/01280-hulusnyderfortuneNetflix’s CEO just revealed the most important issue for Internet TVhttp://fortune.com/2015/07/15/netflix-investor-call-q2/
http://fortune.com/2015/07/15/netflix-investor-call-q2/#commentsWed, 15 Jul 2015 22:13:01 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1209355]]>Netflix has no immediate plans to raise prices for U.S. subscribers, and will instead seek to lift profits by encouraging customers to upgrade to streaming that comes with better resolution. Meanwhile, the company plans to beef up its film library by adding new movies from Disney and by releasing more homegrown shows like the upcoming Narcos.

Those are some of the strategic insights shared by Netflix NFLX executives on a conference call following followed the release on Wednesday of its surprisingly buoyant second quarter earnings.

During the 45-minute discussion, which was broadcast on YouTube, the company also repeated its mantra that it “wants to get like HBO before they get like Netflix.” Translation: Netflix wants to master the content-production game before its rival can match it wide reach.

But the most significant moment came when CEO Reed Hastings explained the company’s decision to support a big cable merger between Charter CHTR and Time Warner Cable. The key to Netflix’s support, said Hastings, was the companies’ agreement to abide by settlement-free peering, which means the companies will not charge content providers for distributing their Internet traffic.

This is important because Netflix, in 2014, was locked in a bitter war with Comcast CMCSA and other Internet Service Providers over paying extra charges, which some likened to a form of extortion (ie “pay up or your Internet stream will get choppy”). The dispute led Netflix to ferociously oppose a proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable TWC.

Now, Netflix hopes the Charter peering pledge could serve not only its own interests, but establish an industry-wide practice for Internet TV. Hastings said he hopes free peering will spare the emerging industry from the sort of battles that continue to plague the cable TV industry, in which stations go dark whenever distributor and content owner haggle over a “retransmission” price.

“We view interconnection [peering] fees as the next retransmission …. that escalates with various price discovery battles,” he said. “It sets up an ugly industry practice.

In contrast, Hastings claims the spread of Charter-style free peering arrangements will spare not only Netflix but the industry from “worrying about a tax from ISPs.”

Hastings added that the Charter deal will benefit all Internet companies, and that he hopes in time that Comcast will embrace free peering too.

The call addressed other issues, including the reasons for Netflix’s surprising second quarter success (they include a strong Australia launch and the popularity of Spanish language shows), and whether Netflix will be willing to be part of an Internet “bundle” with other channels. The short answer to the latter question was “no” - Hastings said he would let distributors package Netflix, but that the service must appear as a separate line item on a customer’s bill.

Finally, the other remarkable part of the event was Hastings’ ghastly sweater, which he was wearing to promote the upcoming new season of Netflix’s Bojack Horseman show:

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/07/15/netflix-investor-call-q2/feed/0OITNB Laverne CoxJeffReed Hastings ugly sweaterNetflix streams its way to another blockbuster quarter, share price soarshttp://fortune.com/2015/07/15/netflix-q2-earnings-2015/
http://fortune.com/2015/07/15/netflix-q2-earnings-2015/#commentsWed, 15 Jul 2015 20:19:33 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1209166]]>Netflix’s overseas push helped make for a blockbuster second quarter as the streaming movie service added 2.5 million new subscribers.

The company said Wednesday that it had more than 65 million subscribers, in total. Of those, 42 million are in the U.S. and another 23 million were international. Netflix predicted it would have 69 million subscribers by the end of the third quarter.

The strong results helped lift Netflix’s shares NFLX more than 10% in after-hours trading to around $107. The earnings came a day after Netflix went ahead with a 7-1 stock split that may tempt more average investors to take a position by reducing the share prices from above $700 to closer to $100.

The company reported a 6 cent per share profit (based on the post-split share price). This would be equivalent to 42 cents prior to the split, which beat the 28 cents analysts predicted. But the amount fell well short of the 16 cents EPS (post-split) the company posted in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue for Q2 was $1.481 billion which compares to $1.223 billion last year.

Netflix, which has a more volatile stock than many companies, has seen its share price tumble after every one of its second quarter earnings reports in the last six years - even though most of those reports likewise beat expectations.

Prior to the earnings release Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn’s groused about Netflix’s original programming efforts, saying the popular House of Cards “appeared to be scripted to compete with Ambien.”

Netflix executives, including CEO Reed Hastings, discussed the numbers via a live YouTube conference on Wednesday afternoon. Hastings credited a strong launch in Australia and the popularity of Netflix’s Spanish language content with subscribers as some of the reason’s for the successful quarters. You can get more highlights from the conference call here.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/07/15/netflix-q2-earnings-2015/feed/0Reed Hastings 2015JeffThis is how Comcast hopes to keep customers from cutting the cordhttp://fortune.com/2015/07/13/comcast-stream/
http://fortune.com/2015/07/13/comcast-stream/#commentsMon, 13 Jul 2015 15:14:43 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1205798]]>Comcast has a new offering that the company likely hopes will make its customers reconsider cutting the cord.

The cable giant said late-Sunday that its broadband internet customers will soon have the option of paying just $15 a month to get live access to about a dozen TV networks over the web. Comcast’s CMCSA new service, called Stream, includes the major broadcast networks, as well as HBO, and customers will also have access to “thousands of on demand movies and shows,” the company said.

Stream also comes with access to Comcast’s TV Everywhere web streaming app and a cloud DVR for recording and storing content.

The offer is only available to Comcast broadband subscribers and, to start, Comcast will first launch Stream in the Boston area at the end of this summer before eventually expanding the service to Chicago and Seattle. The company said Stream will roll out nationally early next year.

With the introduction of Stream, Comcast joins the ranks of large media companies courting so-called “cord-cutters,” who have shown a reluctance to pay for traditional large cable-and-internet packages. Earlier this year, Verizon VZlaunched its FiOS Custom TV service, which offers modified ? la carte pricing for slimmer, customizable pay-TV bundles. Meanwhile, Dish Network DISH offers a similar subscription service, Sling TV, and cord-cutters can also opt for services like Sony’s SNE Playstation Vue.

The main difference between the other services available to streaming TV customers and Comcast’s Stream is that the latter is only available to Comcast’s own broadband subscribers, which allows the company to offer cord-cutter-like service without encouraging its customers to actually cut the cord.

Meanwhile, as Re/code notes, customers would be paying the $15-per-month for Stream on top of Comcast’s broadband-only subscription, and the combined total of those two packages could actually exceed Comcast’s basic, $45-per-month TV and broadband package, which also includes HBO. Comcast’s basic “Economy Plus” internet service costs about $35-per month.

This week, the performance of European stocks will be in focus as traders watch events involving Greece. Euro zone leaders reached a deal with the debt-stricken country at the end of a marathon night of talks, making Greece surrender much of its sovereignty to outside supervision in return for agreeing to talks on an 86 billion euro bailout. Also this week, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen will meet with Congress to discuss monetary policy and the economy as investors hope for some clarity on the impending interest rate hike. Meanwhile, corporate earnings season is back in full swing with a bumper crop of bank earnings as well as quarterly results for some high-profile tech firms.

Here’s what else you need to know this week.

1. Another Greek bailout

World markets gave a weary cheer on Monday as euro zone leaders emerged from-all night talks in Brussels with a deal to keep Greece afloat and part of the euro currency union. Euro zone leaders made Greece surrender much of its sovereignty to outside supervision in return for agreeing to talks on an 86 billion euros ($95 billion) bailout to keep the near-bankrupt country in the single currency. European Council President Donald Tusk announced just as European trading started that after months of tortuous negotiations, marathon overnight discussions had produced the third bailout deal in five years for Greece.

2. Yellen’s congressional testimony

The Federal Reserve chair will offer her semi-annual testimony to the House Financial Services Committee in Washington. Yellen will discuss monetary policy and the U.S. economy at a time when the central bank is on the verge of a much-anticipated interest rate hike. However, investors looking for some insight into the timing of the rate hike will likely need to wait until after the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting in a couple of weeks.

3. Tech earnings

Earnings season is back in full force and a handful of major technology companies will report their latest quarterly results this week. Google GOOG is expected to report second-quarter numbers on Thursday that fall short of Wall Street’s expectations after the strong U.S. dollar weighed down overseas revenue. EBay EBAY also reports second-quarter results on Thursday, but the online marketplace is expected to show disappointing sales figures due to increased competition from rivals such as Amazon AMZN. Netflix NFLX is expected to reveal a better-than-expected bump in online subscribers when it reports second-quarter figures on Wednesday.

4. Bank earnings

JPMorgan & Chase JPM and Goldman Sachs GS both report second-quarter results this week, with the latter expected to see a decline in quarterly profit. CitiGroup’s C second-quarter profits are expected to see a healthy jump year-over-year after the bank took a hit from legal costs during the same period in 2014. Other financial institutions reporting earnings this week include Bank of America BAC, Wells Fargo WFC, BlackRock BLK, and Charles Scwhab SCHW.

5. Economic indicators

On Friday, the Labor Department will release the Consumer Price Index for June, when the index is expected to have climbed at a slower pace than in May. The Fed releases its report on June industrial output on Wednesday, while Tuesday will bring the Commerce Department’s report on June retail sales, which are expected to have increased by only 0.3% last month after a 1.2% bump in May.

--Reuters contributed to this report.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/07/12/week-ahead-greece-5things/feed/0Eurozone Finance Ministers Demand Greater Scrutiny Of Greek Budget CutshuddlestontomNetflix announces release dates for its first original movieshttp://fortune.com/2015/07/07/netflix-original-movies/
http://fortune.com/2015/07/07/netflix-original-movies/#commentsTue, 07 Jul 2015 18:20:53 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1201991]]>Netflix NFLX has finally announced the release dates for its initial wave of original films, and the first -- “Beasts of No Nation” by acclaimed director Cary Fukunaga -- will be available as soon as October this year.

The other films -- Adam Sandler’s “The Ridiculous Six,” “Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday,” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend” -- will be released in December, March, and sometime in the first quarter of 2016, respectively, the company said.

The films will all be made available on Netflix, but some will also be released in cinemas. “Beasts of No Nation” will be released concurrently on the streaming service and in select theaters, and the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” sequel will be shown in Chinese theaters and in IMAX.

The original films represent a new frontier for the video streaming service, which enjoyed huge membership gains after the introduction of original TV series such as “Orange is the New Black,” and “House of Cards.” Creating original films takes that success one step further.

Netflix’s foray into original films also promises to shake up the film’s industry’s business model, in which movies (or at least the good ones) are only released to streaming services and DVD a few months after they are shown in theaters.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/07/07/netflix-original-movies/feed/0Netflix 2013clairegrodenAs Netflix goes global, more customers jump digital fencehttp://fortune.com/2015/07/07/netflix-vpns/
http://fortune.com/2015/07/07/netflix-vpns/#commentsTue, 07 Jul 2015 13:58:05 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1200624]]>A media executive publicly denounced her own daughter for “stealing” last month. The crime? The 15-year-old has used a common technology to watch the U.S. version of Netflix instead of the Canadian one to which the family subscribed.

The “stealing” remark, which came during a speech about copyright issues, was seen by some as overblown. But it did underscore an important issue facing NetflixNFLX and other digital subscription services: large numbers of consumers, in search of new content, are jumping over the digital fences intended to preserve companies’ traditional country-by-country distribution models.

The result is a boom in cross-border viewing, which has become easier than ever thanks to cheap access to services such as virtual private networks (VPNs) that let customers hide their location. And in the case of Netflix, which is now in more than 50 countries, it raises the question of whether the company can or should do more to keep online customers locked into local internet borders?

Watch movies across the border: how it works

Netflix is wildly popular in Canada, and has been ever since the U.S. company opened shop there in 2010. The only catch for many Canadians is that the selection stinks compared to what their friends south of the border can get: Americans see hundreds of movies and TV shows, including Grey’s Anatomy and Burn Notice, that they do not. While Canadians see some shows that don’t appear on Netflix in the U.S., including Downton Abbey, these are relatively few.

This content shortage is why Canadians, and others with cross-border-Netflix envy, turn to services like “usnetflix.ca” that disguise their online location. By using these services, a subscriber in Vancouver may appear (from Netflix’s perspective) to be signing on from Seattle. Or a viewer in Australia may log-in via an internet address based in Boston. This simple trick prompts Netflix to fire up its U.S. roster of shows, including Grey’s Anatomy, in place of the more limited Canadian or Australian catalogue - meaning the viewer’s national subscription becomes an international one.

It’s important to point that this cross-border viewing is not really akin to “stealing” shows - despite what some media executives might say. That’s because the viewers in question are mostly paying customers of Netflix, and what they see is exactly what Netflix would show them if they happened to be traveling in another country. And though the digital fence-hopping is a violation of Netflix’s terms of service, it is questionable whether the practice is the same as outright piracy.

So how exactly do these people get access to international versions of Netflix in the first place? There are two popular technologies. The first is called a “VPN” (virtual private network), which creates a steady connection to Netflix from an out-of-country server. This is the same tool that people use to evade censorship in countries like China or that dissidents can use to hide their identify.

The second tool is a “smart DNS” server. This method likewise tells Netflix that you’re somewhere that you’re not - but only briefly, at the moment you sign on. Unlike a VPN, it doesn’t maintain a dedicated and encrypted connection. But that’s okay for someone who just wants to watch Netflix since it’s only the initial “authentication” moment that matters. Once you’re logged in, you’re “in” as far as Netflix is concerned.

According to Don Bowman, the CTO of network equipment maker Sandvine, both tools are common ways for Canadians to watch international Netflix, though DNS is more popular. All told he estimates that, in Canada, 30 percent of Netflix subscribers use one or the other method to watch U.S. Netflix.

This demand appears to be facilitated by sites like “usnetflix.ca” and “unblock.us,” which purport to offer easy access to location-disguising services for around $5 a month. Such sites are flourishing, even though some have earned a reputation for shady practices such as selling the bandwidth of their users to third parties.

Does Netflix know (and does it care)?

In January, certain corners of the internet went into panic over reports that Netflix was cracking down on VPN use. The news turned out to be overstated, but it did serve to raise the question of how much Netflix knows about, and possibly tolerates, its border-jumping customers.

“Whenever I’ve asked them about VPN's, they always say the same thing - that it's not a big issue, that it's hard to nail down,” said Morgan Stanley analyst, Ben Swinburne, in a recent phone interview. He added that investors and Netflix are aware that “VPN’ing” goes on, but specific numbers are unclear.

From a technological perspective, however, experts say that Netflix could probably do more to shutdown the cross-border viewing.

“To be economical, they [the DNS or VPN provider] have to use commercial data centers … there’s not a way for them to hide,” said Bowman, the Sandvine CTO, explaining that Netflix can typically detect when certain internet traffic is coming from an internet address associated with a VPN or DNS provider. In response, the company could choose to block the incoming traffic.

According to Bowman, Netflix can’t block cross-border viewing entirely but it’s likely the company could put a “big dent” in it. He added that the company has made some effort to curb VPN and DNS use, in part through updates to its mobile apps.

As for Netflix, company spokesperson Anne Marie Squeo said the company is doing what it can, even as it expands in dozens of countries.

“We employ industry standard measures to prevent people from using VPN to access our service. That said, it’s an issue of haves and have nots –people who are willing to pay for a TV show or movie but don’t have access — that we hope to address by offering our content globally to audiences at the same time.”

Meanwhile, analyst Barton Crockett of FBR Capital claims Netflix has no incentive to allow cross-border viewing, saying by phone: “They are trying to identify these people and shut them off. The U.S. content is only supposed to be in the U.S.”

Netflix, physical borders and global rights

The behavior of Netflix’s roving subscribers is actually just a symptom of a larger issue confronting media owners: the territory-based approach to selling movie and TV rights is harder than ever to maintain in digital world. While selling DVDs on a country-by-country basis makes perfect sense, the role of borders is less obvious when it comes to the internet.

“Consumers don't understand. They say, ‘why can't I watch the shows I want in Netflix’,” said Sandvine’s Bowman. “It’s trying to apply the physical world in the digital world.”

This consumer confusion appears in part to explain Netflix’s recent push to obtain TV and movie rights on a global basis instead of country-by-country. For Netflix, a worldwide license is not just an efficient way to acquire content, but also results in a more consistent product experience for its customers.

“I think they absolutely want global rights. It’s a strategic advantage over their competitive set,” said Swinburne, the Morgan Stanley analyst. He also notes, however, that a demand for global rights poses a dilemma for content owners: should they embrace the convenience of one large paycheck from Netflix, or instead try to make more money by selling the rights in one territory at a time?

The issue of VPNs and smart DNS tools further complicates the issue, and could amount to a form of leverage for Netflix. The company could, in effect tell content owners: “see, viewers are going to get this content anyways, so you might as well give us the global license.”

Netflix does not, of course, concede it is doing this, but the outrage from the Canadian media executive - who made the “stealing” comment about her own daughter - suggests that cross-border viewing is already causing friction between Netflix, its competitors and content owners. Seen in this light, the 15-year-old’s Netflix viewing doesn’t represent a moral problem, but a familiar business one.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/07/07/netflix-vpns/feed/0Watching NetflixJeffNetflix hit with ‘cloud tax’ as Chicago targets online consumershttp://fortune.com/2015/07/01/netflix-tax/
http://fortune.com/2015/07/01/netflix-tax/#commentsWed, 01 Jul 2015 16:13:50 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1198909]]>Chicago is marking Independence Day this year with fireworks, hot dogs - and sweeping new tax rules that require companies to collect a 9% levy every time consumers use streaming and cloud services such as Netflix NFLXor AmazonAMZNWeb Services.

The rules, which went into effect today, came about after city officials expanded the interpretation of existing amusement and property lease taxes to encompass cloud-based technologies.

According to lawyers at ReedSmith, which flagged the new rules in a blog post, the taxes now encompass SaaS (software as a service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and streaming media services. In a phone interview, Wynne described how the tax collection will work in practice:

“It really comes from doing audits of consumers. Take our law firm. City officials will audit us for a bunch of taxes, and may find online services,” said Wynne, explaining that officials will now check if the firm has been paying the 9 percent tax on those services.

This raises the question of who is responsible for collecting and paying the tax, which is technically levied on consumers.

“Let’s say an audit of our firm reveals we an invoice from Amazon or someone else with a Chicago address,” said Wynne in a hypothetical example. “The city authority has the choice of either going after the law firm or the companies who didn't collect.”

In response to the new rules, Netflix is already making arrangements to add the tax to the bills of its Chicago subscribers, according to the Verge, which points out that costs to consumers will rise as companies like Lexis-Nexis to Spotify may follow suit.

The new Chicago tax interpretation comes at a time when local tax jurisdictions are confronting a loss in sales tax revenue from traditional main street stores. As a result, the booming cloud industry appears to present a tempting target to make up the shortfall.

For cloud and streaming companies, however, Chicago’s aggressive approach could provide major compliance and accounting headaches if thousands of other local jurisdictions follow suit.

Meanwhile, members of Congress are trying once again to introduce a law that would oblige online retailers to collect sales tax when they sell to out-of-state residents.

A survey released on Tuesday by TiVoTIVO finds that 9 out of 10 people are engaging in “binge viewing,” which the digital video recording company defines as watching more than three episodes of a particular TV show in one day. According to TiVo, 92% of respondents to the company’s latest Binge Viewing Survey said they have engaged in the act of television gluttony at some point.

Not surprisingly, binge-watching is also less frowned upon, with only 30% of respondents reporting a negative view of binge-viewership (there would appear to be some self-loathers in that bunch) compared to two years ago, when more than half of respondents felt the term “binging” had negative connotations.

Most people said they binge-watch simply because they fall behind on watching new episodes of a certain show, while others said they simply didn’t hear about a new show until several episodes had already aired and they wanted to catch up. But 32% of those surveyed said they intentionally avoided watching certain programs until an entire season, or the whole series, had ended so that they could then binge-watch the show.

Of course, you may want to take the report’s findings with a grain of salt. Most of the survey’s respondents are TiVo subscribers (about 30,000 people out of 42,000 surveyed) and one would imagine that people who are willing to pay for the DVR service are also probably more likely to binge-watch recorded shows.

Those who did participate in the survey, though, mostly seem to be doing their binge-watching in one place: Netflix NFLX. TiVo found that 66% of those surveyed use Netflix to binge-watch their favorite programs, with Netflix original series House of Cards and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt topping the list of the most-recently binged upon shows. (Does that mean people are still working their way through the new season of Orange is the New Black?) Those results aren’t all that surprising given all of the work Netflix has done to expand its stable of original content as the online streaming platform looks to challenge more traditional media outlets like broadcast and cable television networks.

Despite binge-watching’s march toward ubiquity, there are still some downsides to the voluntary force-feeding of television series. For instance, 31% of respondents to TiVo’s survey said they have lost sleep to their binging habit while another 37% said they have spent an entire weekend binging on a show.

It may be a contradiction, but please do remember to binge in moderation.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/30/binge-viewing-study/feed/0TV AddicthuddlestontomHuffington Post is betting big on video, but so is everyone elsehttp://fortune.com/2015/06/26/huffington-post-video/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/26/huffington-post-video/#commentsFri, 26 Jun 2015 17:58:29 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1194317]]>When Verizon said it was buying AOL, there was much speculation about whether the telecom giant would want to hang on to the company’s media assets--that is, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, etc. Many (including me) were skeptical about whether Verizon would want to keep them, since media doesn’t generate a huge amount of income. But for now at least, it appears that HuffPost is sticking around, and it plans to use its new parent’s deep pockets to expand into video in a significant way.

Co-founder Arianna Huffington--who recently signed a four-year deal to remain with the publication she created--told the Hollywood Reporter that the site is staffing up to launch a CNN-style 24-hour video news network called HuffPost 24. The new service will apparently feature live news and short-form video, as well as original TV-style series content and documentaries, and will be available through the website and mobile apps, and through over-the-top and video-on-demand services. Said Huffington:

“It’s part of our growth plan to be 50-50 video. As we see the world moving to mobile and global video, these are pretty big priorities. Being able to produce video that can be consumed both by over-the-top and mobile is a huge priority for us.”

Huffington Post has had a video offering for several years now, called HuffPost Live, which has focused primarily on interview-style TV show content. What the site is talking about now is turning that video unit into a full-fledged television and movie network known as HuffPost Studios: According to the company’s founder, it will have separate divisions that will create TV and movie projects--including feature-length films--as well as acquiring and licensing them from others.

The site has been working on bulking up its video for some time now, but this is the first time its founder has talked about the full scope of her ambitions in that area, and the fact that Huffington Post wants video to be at least 50% of its content in the future.

It seems clear that HuffPost wants to make full use of the resources of its new owner, Verizon, which just closed its acquisition of AOL a few days ago. For its part, Verizon is no doubt salivating at the prospect of offering all of that video to its mobile users, along with ads targeted with AOL’s ad-serving technology--something many saw as one of the key factors driving Verizon’s purchase.

The only real problem standing in the way of these ambitious video moves is that virtually everyone else in the media industry is either working on or planning the exact same thing, and many of them have far greater skills and even deeper pockets than Huffington.

VICE, for example, has its own HBO channel and is expected to expand that after an investment by A&E Networks that values the company at more than $2.5 billion. It already has a 24-hour news network that it recently launched in Canada (where the company was originally founded as a lifestyle magazine), and co-founder Shane Smith has said he wants to become “the next CNN, the next ESPN and the next MTV.” According to one report, VICE has already sold three years worth of advertising for its channel.

BuzzFeed is also counting on its video division, which it is calling BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, for a large part of its future growth: The unit is run by online-video veteran Ze Frank, who said recently it generates more than one billion views of its video content a month. At the recent Cannes Lions advertising forum in France, co-founder Jonah Peretti said the company--which initially frowned on the idea of creating TV-series-style content--is working on a number of projects.

Another company that has said it is betting big on TV and film content, and has extremely deep pockets, is Amazon AMZN. Its Amazon Studios division is already a fairly significant player in independent TV and movies, with shows like Transparent and new offerings it is working on with stars like Kevin Costner. It distributes its content through its Netflix-style Amazon Instant Video service, and the company recently said it plans to produce movies and distribute them online.

In addition to these new competitors, the market for video also includes every existing TV and movie provider, as well as established digital players like Netflix and YouTube. And they are all doing it for the exact same reason that Arianna Huffington and Verizon are: Namely, that whatever money there is in digital advertising is predominantly in video. But will that continue to be the case, or is there a video advertising glut looming as all these players converge?

Follow Mathew Ingram on Twitter at @mathewi. You can read his coverage of the media industry by going here, or you can subscribe via his RSS feed.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/26/huffington-post-video/feed/0Family watching television in living roomMathewNetflix is launching in this massive new markethttp://fortune.com/2015/06/25/netflix-india-internet/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/25/netflix-india-internet/#commentsThu, 25 Jun 2015 17:52:54 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1192943]]>With subscribers in over 40 countries, Netflix NFLX has set its sights on one of the biggest markets known to Internet TV companies: India.

The company plans to expand its 62-million customer base with a launch in India in 2016, sources told The Times of India. The service will include popular local shows such as Buniyaad, Nukkad, and Malgudi Days, and will be available on Apple iOS and Google Android devices, the report said.

The move into India is notable for two reasons.

First, it continues the global expansion of the movie-streaming company with ambitions of hitting 200 countries by the end of next year. “We now believe we can complete our global expansion over the next two years, while staying profitable, which is earlier than we expected,” said CEO Reed Hastings in a letter to investors earlier this year.

Second, India is huge, and companies are speeding toward a growing market of eager web surfers. The nation of 1.2 billion people leads the world in Internet user growth across all platforms, according to the 2015 Internet Trends report by Kleiner Perkins. India has over 240 million Internet users, and added 63 million new users last year, the report said. It is the second largest market for Facebook FB and LinkedIn LNKD, and Amazon AMZN and Alibaba BABA are duking it out for dominance of India’s $6 billion online retail industry. Clearly, the country is a potential cash cow for a company like Netflix.

The company has several challenges ahead. India’s broadband connection speeds are two times less than the global average, and they rank among the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region. For Netflix to thrive in the country, potential online moviegoers must fight through power cuts, jam-packed cities and, well, hungry, fiber-optic cable-eating monkeys.

Netflix said on Tuesday its board of directors has approved a seven-for-one stock split.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/25/netflix-india-internet/feed/0Netflix headquartersjchew1271Here’s how much Carl Icahn made on Netflixhttp://fortune.com/2015/06/25/how-much-icahn-made-on-netflix/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/25/how-much-icahn-made-on-netflix/#commentsThu, 25 Jun 2015 16:29:28 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1192579]]>Carl Icahn tweeted on Wednesday that he was out of Netflix NFLX . He received an awfully lovely parting gift.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/25/how-much-icahn-made-on-netflix/feed/0Carl Icahn 2013clairezillmanWhy Carl Icahn dumped his last Netflix shareshttp://fortune.com/2015/06/24/carl-icahn-netflix-shares/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/24/carl-icahn-netflix-shares/#commentsWed, 24 Jun 2015 16:12:51 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1191539]]>Carl Icahn announced on his Twitter Wednesday that he’s sold his last Netflix shares.

Icahn Enterprises, which owned about 1.4 million Netflix shares at the end of 2015’s first quarter, made the move after Netflix NFLXannounced approval of a 7-for-1 stock split, according to CNBC.

Per the publication:

The split will come in the form of a dividend of six additional shares for each outstanding share, Netflix said. It is payable on July 14 to stock owners of record at the July 2 close. Trading at the post-split price will start July 15.

CNBC reported, too, that Netflix stocks dipped slightly after Icahn’s message on the social media service.

Here’s Icahn’s Twitter message announcing the decision:

Sold last of our $NFLX today. Believe $AAPL currently represents same opportunity we stated NFLX offered several years ago.

Netflix has expanded in recent years becoming not only a streaming service for television and film, but also a developer of new movies and TV shows.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/24/carl-icahn-netflix-shares/feed/0Carl Ichan activist shareholder 2014snyderfortuneMeet ‘Nollywood': The second largest movie industry in the worldhttp://fortune.com/2015/06/24/nollywood-movie-industry/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/24/nollywood-movie-industry/#commentsWed, 24 Jun 2015 14:25:34 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1191310]]>In 1992, in Nigeria, electronics salesman Kenneth Nnebue shot a straight-to-video movie in one month, on a budget of just $12,000. Living in Bondagesold more than a million copies, mostly by street vendors, and Nollywood - Nigeria’s movie industry - was born.

By 2009, Nollywood had surpassed Hollywood as the world's second largest movie industry by volume, right behind India's Bollywood. And in 2014, the Nigerian government released data for the first time showing Nollywood is a $3.3 billion sector, with 1844 movies produced in 2013 alone. Earlier this year, Nollywood Producer Kunle Afolyan reached an exclusive Netflix distribution arrangement for his latest film, October 1. This adds to the 10 Nollywood related titles already on Netflix and the U.S. media company's recent $12 million movie rights purchase of Nigerian novel Beasts of No Nation, to star Idris Elba.

And many observers believe that the global reach of African films could take off, led by video on demand (VOD) platforms and productions of Nigeria — the continent's largest economy and most populous nation.

"Nollywood's popularity across Africa and the diaspora certainly demonstrates the capacity of the films to travel," said Nigerian film producer and financier Yewande Sadiku.

But, she notes industry is "in desperate need of a financial makeover." Indeed, pirating of Nollywood productions is a big problem in Nigeria and throughout Africa. Nigeria's film regulatory agency now posts existing laws, enforcement actions, and arrest details for film copyright infringement online, but many in the industry, including Nollywood producer Kunle Afolayan, say that's not enough. They've pressed for stronger copyright laws and led a campaign to expose violators, including posting photos and films of alleged pirating operations.

And critics note that while Nollywood has volume, it lacks production value, and African actors have yet to breakout globally. "The truth is key players in the global movie industry still have little idea what Nollywood is about," said Nigerian producer Kunle Afolayan. "The volume won't matter until we can connect the art to the money with better content and profits."

Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics data also highlights Nollywood's greatest shortcoming: severe revenue bleed. Of the industry's $3 billion valuation less than 1 percent was tracked from official ticket sales and royalties. The rest came from pirated reproductions sold by unauthorized vendors for roughly $2 each. As a result, producers and financiers see only a fraction of the movie industry's economic value.

African digital content startups and the entry of subscription-based video on demand are trying to change this equation. With financial backing of $25 million from firms such as New York's Tiger Global and Sweden's , iROKO Partners licenses and streams Nollywood content to global subscribers, who pay $1.50 a month. "The focus is to take this popular movie industry, digitize it, and put the right framework around it to capture the proper value," founder Jason Njoku said of Nollywood and iROKO's platform.

"The revenue is already there, it's just scattered. If stakeholders can invest in Nollywood and make back profits, it will lead to larger budgets and better quality content."

Competition in African digital entertainment is heating up. In 2014, Africa Magic, a Naspers owned South African satellite TV channel, announced its $8 a month Africa Magic Go VOD package. Then there's Kenyan startup Buni.tv's new Buni+, a $5 a month streaming movie service. Each has a heavy focus on consumers of Nigerian content. Meanwhile, YouTube is also becoming a competitor. Taking a cue from U.S. disruptors like Netflix, Africa's digital film platforms are already creating proprietary programming. iROKOTV is now directing its own productions through its ROK Studios. So too is Nairobi based Buni.tv, which launched Ogas at The Top, a Nigerian version of its popular political satire XYZ Show. In April Nigerian media outlet TechCabal reported a distribution partnership between IROKOTV and Netflix. But, neither Njoku nor Netflix would confirm or deny any deal to Fortune.

Reliable Internet–a baseline for streaming VOD–is still a problem in African countries, however. IROKO has set its developers to creating smaller Nollywood movie files and more direct download options. Another Nigerian startup, SOLO, is bridging the device and broadband gap by offering entry level smartphones (around $75) and its View App that allows customers to buy and rent digital content at download hotspots throughout the country.

As Africa's VOD platforms improve prospects for the continent's films by formalizing revenue and distribution streams, Nollywood may not be the only industry to profit. U.S. digital content purveyors could benefit too. "If we can solve these monetization challenges for African creative content, it can apply to any creative content," said Jason Njoku.

Jake Bright is a Whitehead Fellow of The Foreign Policy Association and author of the upcoming book, The Next Africa: An Emerging Continent Becomes a Global Powerhouse.

Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously said that Nollywood first surpassed Hollywood in volume in 2014; it reached that marker in 2009. The Nollywood industry’s first official valuation was made in 2014. The story has been updated to reflect this.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/24/nollywood-movie-industry/feed/0AFOLAYAN.OCT.1.FILMINGpamelakrugerNetflix announces 7-to-1 stock splithttp://fortune.com/2015/06/23/netflix-stock-split/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/23/netflix-stock-split/#commentsTue, 23 Jun 2015 22:17:37 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1190946]]>Netflix will be splitting its shares seven-to-one, the company said in a statement after the markets closed Tuesday.

The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company’s stock doubled this year. The split will make the stock more accessible to investors, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told investors at the company’s annual meeting, Bloomberg reports.

The split will take effect on July 14, and is payable to stockholders as of July 2. The new shares will begin to trade on July 15, and any shares purchased between July 2 and July 14 will come with a “due-bill” entitling buyers to six more shares for each share they’ve purchased.

Netflix, which started as a DVD-by-mail lending service, has since evolved into a primarily digital streaming company. Today, the company says it has more than 62 million members in over 50 countries, who watch more than 100 million hours of television shows and movies per day.

Netflix’s stock closed at $681.19 at the end of regular trading hours, and climbed to at least $703.55 in after-hours trading following the stock-split announcement.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/23/netflix-stock-split/feed/01280-netflixkiakokalitchevaThis Spotify hire could point to an IPOhttp://fortune.com/2015/06/18/spotify-ipo/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/18/spotify-ipo/#commentsThu, 18 Jun 2015 16:33:48 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1182461]]>For a few months now there’s been speculation about a Spotify IPO, and a new hire by the company is doing nothing to quell those rumors.

McCarthy most recently worked at operating chief at Clinkle Corp., a digital-payments startup, which he left in March after five months.

Spotify’s most recent round of funding pegs its valuation at $8.53 billion. Still, Spotify suddenly finds itself up against new music streaming competition with the recent introduction of Apple Music.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/18/spotify-ipo/feed/0Spotify Press AnnouncementclairezillmanYour Netflix experience is about to look a lot differenthttp://fortune.com/2015/06/15/netflix-new-website-design/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/15/netflix-new-website-design/#commentsMon, 15 Jun 2015 19:53:57 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1176539]]>Netflix announced Monday what it calls the “first major update” to the popular video streaming service’s website design in four years.

The new design is meant to offer Netflix NFLX users “a richer, more visual experience,” while functioning more like a mobile app than a traditional website, the company said in a blog post.

The post notes that growing usage rates for mobile apps mean websites need to adapt to users’ evolving preferences. That’s why the redesigned Netflix site presents information like movies and TV shows in-line for easier, faster scrolling rather than linking to separate pages.

Netflix users will be able to hover a mouse over a movie or TV show to see more information about the content along with a slideshow of images from the program. Clicking on a program opens an in-line pane with more details and the option of browsing through specific episodes.

Some Netflix members will see the new interface immediately; Netflix said the rollout may take up to two weeks to reach all users.

As more and more people turn to Netflix and other streaming sites for their entertainment needs, more traditional media outlets are suffering a drop-off in viewership. In addition to dropping TV ratings, a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that the revenue from downloading and streaming video content will outpace physical DVD sales this year and will surpass revenue from movie theaters in the U.S. by 2017.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/15/netflix-new-website-design/feed/0US Online Streaming Giant Netflix : IllustrationhuddlestontomThink your office is distracting? It could be worsehttp://fortune.com/2015/06/12/worst-office-distractions/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/12/worst-office-distractions/#commentsFri, 12 Jun 2015 15:03:14 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1173197]]>It's well known that distractions wreak havoc on productivity. Now comes a study from CareerBuilder revealing exactly what makes it so hard to concentrate at work, including smartphones, chatty colleagues, and never-ending social media feeds.

Asked to name the biggest productivity killers at their companies, 2,175 managers said pretty much what you would expect: Cell phones (52%), the Internet (44%), gossip (37%), and email (31%).

Then there are the, um, more surprising things that bosses have found someone doing instead of actually working, including:

Taking a sponge bath in the restroom sink

Searching online for a mail-order bride

Hiding in a bathroom stall to play a video game on a smartphone

Sabotaging another employee's car tires

Trying to hypnotize other employees to help them quit smoking

Writing negative posts about the company on social media

Sleeping on the CEO's couch

Searching Google images for "cute kittens"

Building a model airplane

Visiting a tanning booth instead of making deliveries

Flying drones around the office

Printing pictures of animals, naming them after coworkers, and hanging them on the walls around the work area

Then there was our personal favorite: "Drinking vodka while watching Netflix."

What if you're one of those people (you know who you are) who just can't resist a little unauthorized R&R now and then? It might help, says CareerBuilder human resources chief Rosemary Haefner, to "schedule 'play breaks.’ Give yourself permission to take a break, and set a definite ending time. Not only will you have something to look forward to, but you'll also know when it's time to get back to work."

Wall Street stock futures are lower this morning as investor sentiment wanes amid bad signs from Greece and fears about the U.S. economic recovery.

Today’s must-read story is from Fortune‘s Matthew Ingram and it takes a hard look at whether Rupert Murdoch’s son, James Murdoch, is ready to take over 21st Century Fox with his father reportedly stepping down as CEO.

Here’s what else you need to know today.

1. Greek drama

Shares in some of Greece's biggest banks are down sharply on the Athens Stock Exchange following a new blow to the nation's debt negotiations. On Thursday, officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pulled out of talks with Greek politicians in Brussels due to "major differences." Greece on Friday said the move was designed to put pressure on both Athens and its European creditors. In a signal that it had not softened its stance in the talks, a Greek government official also said Athens would not cross its “red lines” as it looked to intensify political negotiations for an agreement. Time is fast running out for Greece to reach a deal with its EU and IMF lenders and avert a default at the end of June that could see it tumbling out of the euro zone.

2. Net Neutrality

The new open Internet rules the FCC passed in February go into effect today after a federal appeals court yesterday denied a request from the telecom industry to suspend their implementation. Industry leaders like AT&T T, Comcast CMCSA, and Verizon VZ were among those claiming that the FCC overstepped its reach with the net neutrality rules, which ban Internet providers from blocking certain websites or allowing companies to pay for faster content delivery.

3. May PPI

Today, the Labor Department will release the Producer Price Index for the month of May. The index, which measures changes in the prices businesses receive for their goods and services, is expected to have increased by 0.4% last month after falling by that same amount in April.

The online “dramedy” returns for a third season on Netflix NFLX starting today. The series, which follows an ensemble cast of female prison inmates, is one of Netflix’s most popular pieces of original content, winning three Emmy Awards last year. Netflix has been busy bolstering its portfolio of original content in recent years as the online streaming site battles more traditional entertainment outlets for television and film viewers. The company’s latest content coup is a deal to produce a film starring Brad Pitt, announced earlier this week.

That’s according to a press release today from Marriott Hotels MAR about its new deal with Netflix NFLX. As part of the partnership, guests at (select) Marriott hotels can access their Netflix accounts directly from their in-room televisions. If they don’t already have Netflix, they will also be able to subscribe to the service from their room.

TechCrunch reported back in January that Marriott was considering offering Netflix, Hulu and Pandora P in its rooms -- now it has rolled out one of those services, and the rest may not come at all: as Fast Company reports today, Marriott tested several TV streaming services, including Hulu and YouTube, and found that the “significant majority” of guests chose Netflix.

Netflix is already available in the rooms of six Marriott hotels around the U.S., including one in Manhattan. The service will launch in six more hotels this summer, and will expand to 100 by the end of the year, according to the company. Netflix will be available in “nearly all” Marriott hotels by the end of 2016, the company said.

The Netflix deal is a move to keep up with the cord-cutting times and offer guests something more modern than the traditional high-fee movies on their in-room TV sets.

Interestingly, the company chose to name-drop in its announcement these three Netflix shows: Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, and Marvel’s Daredevil.

Separately, Netflix on Tuesday approved a big increase in the number of shares the company is authorized to issue -- the first step toward a possible stock split. At the company’s annual meeting, Chief Executive Reed Hastings said the management will seek approval from the board of directors to pursue a stock split, Reuters reported.